Briefs: NZ banks' profit increasing, Banks stay under tax reform radar, Big Sky's BBB rating, and mo

Banking Day staff
  • The New Zealand banking sector has recorded an overall increase in net profit after tax of NZ$98 million for the quarter to March 2015. The nine domestic banks reviewed by KPMG showed a profit quarter of NZ$1.25 billion, up from the NZ$1.15 billion in the December quarter and just below the record September 2014 quarter NPAT of NZ$1.25 billion. Across the sector, six of the nine participants recorded growth in NPAT. Total bank assets continued to grow to new record high levels of $412 billion across the sector, a 2.67 per cent improvement on the previous quarter, courtesy of a strong performance from the New Zealand subsidiaries of Australia's Big Four banks.

  • Treasurer Joe Hockey had little new to say in a speech on tax reform at PwC in Melbourne. An extension to the lengthy consultation process on tax reform was about the only new theme. Hockey found no time in the talk to consider specific issues of tax in the context of banking and financial services, other than to rehash material on the super tax concessions debate and spruik the case for lower company and business taxes.

  • Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has assigned its BBB issuer credit ratings to Big Sky Building Society, on the basis of a very strong capitalisation and good loss experience with its focus on low-risk residential mortgages. These factors are offset by what S&P sees as Big Sky's "limited competitive advantages in a highly commoditised, price-sensitive market, and a funding profile that is vulnerable to competitive pressures, particularly in a stressed operating environment." The ratings agency said it expected Big Sky's asset growth would be "broadly matched by internal capital generation, ensuring the projected risk-adjusted capital ratio remains above 15 per cent."

  • The Fair Work Commission has granted ANZ the right to be legally represented to defend an unfair dismissal claim as the matter is sufficiently "complex", the Workplace Express reports. Commissioner Nick Wilson accepted ANZ's argument that legal representation would allow the case to be dealt with more efficiently, given the inherent "complexities" of the credit assessment officer's claim. ANZ claimed the employee was unable to perform her duties after an ASIC-imposed ban precluded her from engaging in credit activities for five years. ANZ dismissed the officer in April, and the ASIC ban is still subject to legal action.